Supermarkets slash petrol prices to four-year low

Prices at the pump are set to fall to a four-year low as Britain's leading supermarkets pass on the savings from a dramatic plunge in global oil prices with a new round of cuts.

Tesco is slashing its petrol and diesel by 2p and 1p respectively at all of its 500 filling stations across Britain starting Friday lunchtime.

The announcement comes after rival supermarket Asda slashed its prices for the second time this week, knocking 2p off a litre to a 4-year low at 112.7p per litre of unleaded. Asda is also reducing its diesel by 1p a litre, taking the price to 118.7p a litre.

“If Tesco drop their petrol pump price by 2p a litre on all their forecourts, their presence as the UK’s biggest fuel retailer by market share could knock the UK’s average price of petrol down by a penny a litre over the weekend, ” says AA spokesman Luke Bosdet.

The RAC motoring organisation had previously called on retailers to pass on wholesale savings in time for Christmas. Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Tesco have all lowered their prices.

The price of oil has been falling since summer on oversupply concerns and in-fighting within the OPEC cartel with Saudi Arabia refusing to cut output. Brent crude prices have plunged from $115 in June to a five-year low of $60 a barrel.